Don`t Short-change State On Immigration Expenses

September 25, 1985

the Reagan Administration to pay its share of the heavy expenses generated by the Mariel boatlift and subsequent influx of Haitians is as baffling as it is irritating.

Once again the sound of dragging feet emanates from the Office of Management and Budget where spending watchdogs have announced they will reduce the amount of special immigration funds intended for South Florida by almost $3 million.

Under the OMB plan, Broward County`s aid would be cut from $539,373 to $380,329. Palm Beach would receive $157,997 instead of $224,060. Dade, with by far the biggest Mariel population in the country, would have to make do with $6.6 million instead of $9.36 million.

That money is not coming from a pile of imaginary dollars. They are real dollars already appropriated by Congress for a specific purpose -- to help ease the Mariel and Haitian burden carried by the states.

Congress didn`t fund the aid program in a fit of air-headed generosity. When more than 120,000 Cuban refugees poured into South Florida during the 1980 boatlift, the federal government automatically became a partner in covering the cost of its own come-one-come-all reaction to the Mariel stampede.

Financial help is not a matter of good will. Under the Constitution, immigration policy is a federal responsibility. If the U.S. opens up its borders then it should help pay for the welcome mat.

OMB spokesmen say the funding formula is too complicated to explain and that the conflict stems from ``a difference of interpretation over the intent of Congress.``

What is there to interpret? When the appropriation was approved there was nothing confusing in the paperwork. Congress clearly wanted the money spent where it is needed.

The Senate Appropriations Committee will investigate the OMB decision and decide if it should be challenged. There should be no question about an all- out effort to get all of the available money released.

The administration`s annual attempt to short-change the states bearing the brunt of refugee costs, particularly Florida, is a wrong-headed display of White House insensitivity.